Transmission theory: what the heck was Tolkien thinking?

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Galin

But the stories remain, if not "sacred" at least as pieces of art as well as history. They are not to be corrected by Bilbo, arguably especially as some have already become altered and confused as they passed through Mannish hands and mines before landing on Elrond's bookshelves.

Yes I don't feel that there's any problem with Bilbo translating Númenórean legends, or with such legends being kept by Elves who would have known better. After all, they are presumably works of art in their own right regardless of "scientific accuracy", to be appreciated as such, and the Elves/Bilbo may well have seen them that way, as relics of a lost culture rather than vital historical records in serious need of updating.

For all we know, Bilbo knew, either of his own accord or from his conversations with the Elves, that they were poeticised/mythologised versions of what "really" happened, but didn't care, because that wasn't why he was interested in them.

I actually find this reflective of the interesting dichotomy that I feel exists between the more "satisfactorily realistic" reformed creation story, in which the Sun exists before the Trees, and the more "poetically pleasing" earlier one in which the Trees exist before the Sun. Perhaps both can be appreciated for different reasons.

I suppose the question is: did Professor Tolkien give up on the "true" account of creation and very early history because it would have been too hard or because the reformed version lacked the beauty of the original?

Christopher Tolkien wonders if "the old structure was too comprehensive, too interlocked in all its parts, indeed its roots too deep, to withstand such a devastating surgery", but admits that he has "no evidence on the question one way or the other".

I must admit that a more "scientifically minded" side of me has always struggled a bit with imagining a period of history in which the Earth was thriving with creatures (including Elves) and yet the Sun didn't exist and the world was perpetual starlit night-time. On the other hand, the Trees are such a powerful image, and I feel that they lose some of that if the Sun existed first. I feel the same way about the round Earth vs the flat Earth. The Ban of the Valar is somehow less striking when it feels like they also needed to tell the Númenóreans that they weren't allowed to just sail up the other side either.